Air blast, i.e., the shock wave from an explosion in the air, is a nuisance in a commercial blasting operation because of the noise and the damage that can be caused to the surrounding buildings and property. In commercial blasting, every effort is made to lessen the effect of air blast by detonating the explosive in smaller delays, tamping the explosive, and blasting on days when the atmospheric conditions are such that there will not be a reflection of the blast wave to the ground.
For safety reasons, it is a bad practice to detonate an explosive charge when an aircraft is near the blast zone, as the blast wave may damage the aircraft.
This invention is directed to intentionally maximizing the air blast effect and controlling the direction of maximum intensity of the blast.
The advantage of using an airborne shock wave as a weapon against targets stems partly from the means of generating the destructive force and partly from the nature of the destructive force.
The mechanism of destruction is a field of overpressure, usually measured lb/in.sup.2. An overpressure of 10 lb/in.sup.2, though requiring only a few thousand pounds of high explosive at a distance of a thousand feet or more, with my invention, will exert a force of 1,440 lb/ft.sup.2 on the wings of an aircraft which will cause failure of the wings and perhaps the entire structure of most aircraft.
Because the destructive force is a field, once detonated, the weapon is immune to counter measures. Armor will not protect the aircraft, as the force acts on the whole structure at once.
Because the weapon is new, the enemy will be unfamiliar with the means and mode of destruction, and as a result, the countermeasures and training in avoidance of the weapon will be underdeveloped.
The other advantages of the weapon stem from its method of generation. It is a fixed defensive weapon for infantry and installations. The weapon may be set up over dug-in infantry and utilized to destroy strafing ground-attack aircraft.
The weapon is difficult to destroy, because it is made up of hundreds of charges of explosives and can be spread over several million square feet of battlefield. The destruction of even a large number of charges will not render the weapon ineffectual.
The number of individual weapons that can be set up on a given area is limited only by the distance which must be left between explosive charges to prevent them from setting one another off. An area a thousand feet on a side, with three hundred individual chargers for each overpressure trap and three feet between charges, could contain over three hundred traps.
The weapon may function as an aerial tank trap, denying the use of certain low air corridors to the enemy, or preventing low-flying aircraft from gaining access to a protected area.